“Sit,” She orders as Max gapes between us both. Then she gets up off the bench as I open my mouth to snap that I don’t take orders from her.
“Sit,” She repeats. This time with a look on her face that she will not take no for an answer and for the first time in my life, I do what I am told, and I sit down on in the chair opposite hers. “Wait there, I’ll be back,” Then she walks off. I feel the confusion on my face as Max stares after her.
“Leave,” I snap. My anger returning at the longing in his expression.
“What?” He asks. “I’m still eating,”
“No. You are leaving. Eat somewhere else,”
Max huffs and grabs his tray. “Dick” is murmured as he walks away, but I can’t find the energy to care or chastise him about his outburst.
When I glance around the room to find Ruella, I notice confused stares from the other tables. One including Darcy and her band of bores. She looks furious, as she should. I ignored all but one of her texts while I was home, and then again when she asked if she could come over tonight.
I send her a scowl back. I know my father needs me to play nice, but after the crap he has put me through, he can shove it. We don’t need the deal. When I take over, I will bring in triple that.
A tray is slapped down in front of me on the table and I almost jump. Almost.
“Where’s Max?” Ruella demands as she takes her seat.
“Said he had something to do,”
“That’s a lie. We were going to study after dinner,”
I shrug. “I don’t know then; something must have come up. I thought you were sick of men like me; you know my friends with sticks stuck up their arse’s?”
She shrugs. “Maybe Max is different,” That immediately has my heckles up. Fucking Max Belmont may appear to be an angel, but he is just like the rest of us.
“He isn’t,”
I watch as she works her jaw side to side, clearly wanting to say more, but holding back.
“Eat,” She demands again, but this time it rubs me up the wrong way.
“What makes you think you can tell me what to do?” I snap.
Her eyes flare, but I watch as it is doused with concern.
“Since you are clearly exhausted and ignoring your personal needs,” She flicks her hand over my form. “You have dark circles, your hair is a mess, shirt wrinkled, your watch is on upside down,” My eyes flick to my wrist and she’s right. Fuck. “And even the table at the far end of the hall could hear your stomach grumbling,”
Said stomach decides at this exact moment to agree with her and she smirks, as if to say,I told you so.
I don’t reply. I can’t.
No one ever notices how exhausted I am, or that I sometimes forget about myself because my family and business need me. Hell, I am on and off with Darcy and have been since we were fifteen, and she doesn’t see what Ruella did in five seconds.
At that realisation I pick up the fork and dig into the huge plate she has prepared. She chose a bit of everything, and I smile when I see the concoction.
“I didn’t know what you would like, so I went wild,”
“It’s fine. Thanks,”
We eat in silence for a bit before I remember why I came over in the first place.
“Since when are you friends with Max?”
She looks up swallowing her mouthful of mash potatoes. “He’s in my English lit class,”
“Doesn’t explain why you are having dinner with him?” I reply as she sits back slightly amused. “You together?”
